


Through a Chase and Lilacs

by Aleqsxia



Series: La vie est une fleur dont l’amour est le miel. [1]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, Boys Kissing, Florist!Hyunjin, Fluff, HyunIn is my ship and no one is stopping me, It's all innocent don't worry, Jeongin wears glasses, M/M, Pining, Please Don't Hate Me, Swearing, flower shop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-02-19 00:57:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13112436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aleqsxia/pseuds/Aleqsxia
Summary: Hyunjin is a part-time florist at his bestfriend's family shop. Jeongin is a cute freshman student that visits the flower shop to 'buy his girlfriend' flowers. Hyunjin definitely fell hard at first meeting.If Hwang Hyunjin was not passionate enough, he wouldn't be a respected dance major. He'll make sure that the sweet younger shall fall for his charms. But what if the other interprets his approach differently?





	1. White Rosebud

**Author's Note:**

> I created this last week, had just decided to post/finish this now since this past week I was quite... occupied, especially after Jonghyun's passing. I still wish that this is just a nightmare but sadly it isn't. May the star that shone on the stage, shine in the heavens above.
> 
> Also, everyone's creating Xmas fics but here I am creating something not a Xmas themed one lol.

“Hwang Hyunjin, I swear to god, if you don’t pick your ass up right now, I will kick you out of your seat.” came a noise behind him. He looks back to see Yeji with arms crossed in front of her and an apparent annoyed face plastered.

“Oh, Yeji-shi, nice to see you too.” He looked back at the book on his lap, bored out of his wits, ignoring the threat from the girl behind him. Clearly, it was a dreadful move, for his beautiful, his oh so handsomely beautiful face met the ground within seconds. The book he was reading landed a few feet in front. He sat up and held his face, his nose aching. He sent a deadly glare to his monster of a bestfriend.

“Did you have to be so violent, Jinnie-yah?” he swore as he felt his nose throb, “I think you broke my nose you shit.”

“I swore that I will kick you out of your seat didn’t I?” Yeji rolled her eyes at him. “Stop being a whinny baby. How many times have I become cupid for you and the floor? Countless. Anyway there’s someone pacing outside. He’s been going back and forth since possibly earlier than 4. It’s already quarter to six and he looks like he’s from our college too.”

“Why me? You talk to him. You know how much I hate talking to people from our school.” He said as he stood up, dusting his pants.

“You twack. Why would I ask you if I would’ve gone and talked to him? You’re a guy, I’m a girl, and he’s a guy so… you know.” was the reply he got.

“Seriously? I never knew you were a sexist Hwang Yeji-yah.” Hyunjin looked at his bestfriend and saw a straight ‘are-you-fucking-kidding-me’ face.

“I can’t believe I call you my bestfriend.” She released an exasperated sigh as she rubbed her temples. “Do you think I didn’t try to put on my sweet facial expression to try and approach him? He fled thrice.  _Thrice_  Jinjin-yah! So you go! And no, I am not a sexist. I can’t believe you didn’t see the sarcasm there dude.”

“I’m tired-”

“Reasons, reasons. Anyway, go do your job right now.” Yeji pushed Hyunjin towards the access out of the counter. “I’ll take over your cashier duty. You do my roaming.”

It is now Hyunjin’s turn to roll his eyes. He replied with grumbling ‘fine’ as he proceeds to exit the counter.  He turns to the corner to proceed to aisles of flowers before taking his jacket from the coat rack, ready to go out of the shop to meet the chilly night air and see the punk who caused him this trouble. Oh, the boy is so dead.

* * *

He is seriously in trouble. He's pretty sure that he'd disturbed the employees, possibly even customers with his unending pacing in front of the flower shop for hours. Especially that one sunbae from his college who works here, Hwang Yeji-noona, if he's correct. She'd tried approaching three or two times but he can't help but flee. She's really scary though. She’s known to being a great, _confident_  dancer. Maybe that's the reason why her eyes look sharp. But even with a sweet smile on her face, she still looked like she’s  _trying_  to see through you. He shivered, possibly from the notion or the chilly air, or both.

Why did Ryujin asked him to do this again. He looked at the window to see if there is anyone present but all he sees are flowers in pots, stands and hanging planters. He cursed as his breath fogged his glasses. He removes it to place it in his eyeglass case to skip the bother. He can probably manage through squinting. Taking his phone out, he squinted to see the message he’s typing.

 

To Ryunamja:

 

 

 

 

> _why did it have to be here_   _ㅠㅠ_   _it's extremely cold._

 

He pressed send and hid his phone in his pocket. Seconds later he felt vibrations so he digs his phone out again. Continuously cursing as his phone slipped off his hands and fell to the ground.

Chan-hyung would be crying if he heard him there and then, blaming Jisung for cursing in front of the  _baby_. ‘ _This is why I don’t want you near the child Jisungie!_ ’ he’ll say. He didn’t dwell at the thought of how Jisung-hyung would repent for his ‘sins’, sending unending texts full of ‘I’m sorry’s ‘til, whenever they finish their practice, in the morning or he urges Chan-hyung to forgive Jisung-hyung or when Changbin-hyung tells his boyfriend that Jeongin was not corrupted by him.

He kinda misses them. They’ve been busy training to be in a new group. He never sees them at the college, even Changbin-hyung who is a member of the student council.

He shook his head, cursing his mind for getting distracted. He opened his phone to see Ryujin had sent 5 messages.

 

From Ryunamja:

 

 

 

 

> _this sghop has the best flowers!_
> 
> _shop* lol_
> 
> _plus, Yeji-unnie works there_
> 
> _just tell her it's code: red_   _. She knows what’s up anyway._
> 
> _she knows what my favorites are. She might also give a discount lol_

 

To Ryunamja:

 

 

 

 

> _why did it have to be me??? Cant u just choose minho-hyung to stage as you fake bf to get those guys away???_
> 
> _I cant even put up a fight_   _ㅠㅠ_

 

He pressed send and a stream of replies was quickly received.

 

From Ryunamja:

 

 

 

 

> _YAH._
> 
> _Yang Jeongin, do you know how precious you are???_
> 
> _Like nearly half of our college adore u!_
> 
> _If someone beats you u_
> 
> _they’ll be beaten by 100x more!_

 

“I don’t want to believe this claim in any way.  _Aish_  why it had to be Yeji-noona” Jeongin whines loudly in the silent street as he looks at Ryujin’s messages. Sighing, he stood confidently and readied himself to talk to his sunbae who, in many ways, is intimidating.

“Excuse me.” A hushed, deep voice behind him whispered. He screams, proving to himself that he can hit high notes. He whips his head back to see a blurred silhouette of tan, dark brown, white and blue.

* * *

 

He says a simple ‘excuse me’ and the kid scream on top of his lungs and jumps towards the glass window in front, now behind since he looked at Hyunjin, of him.

‘ _I’ll be proud if this kid is in the music department for that scream._ ’ He remarks in his mind as he let his ears recover. He looks at the kid who is possibly a few centimeters smaller than him, wide eyed and clutching his chest. His oversized winter coat hugged his body. His nose and cheeks were tinted with red, possibly from the cold air. He looks so small and precious, Hyunjin almost cooed. _Almost_. He clears his throat which caught the scared other’s attention.

“First off, I’m sorry for scaring you—” the other tried to compose himself by standing taller and fixing his coat, and squinted  _cutely_ towards Hyunjin as he spoke, the latter gives an awkward laugh, ‘ _Shit_ ’ “Uh… uhm… my partner had seen you going back and forth, and, um, are you trying to stalk her or something since I heard you say her name just earlier and you avoided her thrice.”

The kid looked confused for a few seconds but then as if a bucket of red paint splotched his face, it flushed red as he realized what Hyunjin had said.

“No- I uh, I mean- I’m not stalking her!” the kid was fumbling with his hands as with his words, “But I- uh, I just need to talk to her actually. But stalking her?  _Are you kidding me?_ ” The kid continued, with the last sentence being a Busan dialect. ‘ _What a cutie.'_  Hyunjin lets a small smile show on his face as the kid diverts his eyes from Hyunjin to the floor.

The other pouted as he hugged himself from the cold, burying his flushed face on his oversized coat. “I didn’t really mean to appear stalkerish but I’m here to buy for a friend— I mean my girlfriend.”

“Oh.” Hyunjin is going to hit himself, that’s for sure. He’s pretty damn sure his jaw might’ve unhinged with how it fell or his eye balls might’ve fallen out with how his eyes had widened.

 _‘Hwang Hyunjin, why didn’t you process a more intellectual reply?_ ’ he thought to himself, ‘ _He’s cute and all of course he’ll have a girlfriend! You meet more attractive people, hell; some of them are even in your fanclub!’_

Hyunjin clears his throat for the nth time and plasters a sweet professional smile. “Well then,” he gestures towards the flower shop door, “welcome to  _The Secret Garden_ , where you tend a rose and a thistle cannot grow."

Hyunjin was about to turn to retreat back into the warm shop with the other in tow when the other grabbed his arm, "Ah, hyung I'm sorry, but can hold onto you?"

He looked back to see the other looking at him, akin to a pleading look, with his deep eyes sparkling, and the other’s face close to his own. As he is left to stare at the younger, quite taken aback at the sudden gaze and request, he can feel heat is spreading through his body.

" _I’m sorry?_ " he asks in English, his voice reaching a falsetto tone. The younger was flustered by the sudden high pitched English outburst of the older. He removes his hands from Hyunjin’s sleeve in panic while stumbling with his words.

"I-um, hyung— I didn't mean— I ugh—I just— I'm sorry!" the younger bows, "I just didn’t want to pull out my glasses since it's just a short distance walk." The younger shyly looks at Hyunjin as he said his reason. Hyunjin gets what the other was trying to say, " _Calm down_ , _calm down_. I was just uh, shocked." 

The kid’s eyes stayed at Hyunjin's, the latter can feel heat rising to his cheeks again, "I get it don’t worry, I'll help you."

" _Really?_ Ah, thank you hyung" the younger flashes a small dimpled smile, his dialect slipping in again, which made Hyunjin's heart flutter, possibly from the cuteness.

"No problem." he coolly replies, ignoring the heat he feels at the tip of his ears.

* * *

 

The handsome florist led him inside. He took Jeongin’s coat to hang both their coat at the rack before leading him towards the counter where Yeji-noona is sitting. The said girl looked up from the magazine she was reading and smiled. Jeongin might’ve stopped terrified at the sudden glint in her eyes but he can’t bear to embarrass himself further. She looked at the man beside Jeongin and made a ‘go away’ gesture. Jeongin looked at the guy and saw him rolling his eyes before landing onto Jeongin’s. The latter was flustered by the sudden eye contact; a pink tint colored his cheeks but managed to nod to the male florist. Once the male florist leaned to a shelf, placed far from the counter, Yeji-noona spoke.

“Well, well, well, I knew you looked familiar. I didn’t know our Ryujin’s friend is scared of girls.” Yeji-noona placed the magazine on her hands down on the counter and leaned towards him to whisper. “So what’s the problem, Jeongin-ah?”

Jeongin needed to do a take back right there. Shin Ryujin told him that none, as in  _none_ of her department members know him. Shin- _fucking_ -Ryujin is dead to him. He might’ve looked really shocked for Yeji-noona to laugh at him.

“Why are you shocked? You’re well known in SOPA. Nearly half or whole of a department knew about a certain angelic music major freshman from Busan. What’s the problem anyway?” She smiled, her eyes forming into crescents, “Also where are your glasses?”

‘ _I still can’t believe nearly the whole college knows_ me.’ Jeongin thought to himself as he took out his glasses in his eyeglass case from his bag. He wiped the vapor from his glasses and wore them before leaning forward to whisper: “Ryujin. Code: Red.”

And with that Yeji-noona’s eye-smile disappeared. She asked one question: “Who?”

Jeongin shook his head. “There were guys that attempted to stalk her, noona. We reported it to the police but we don’t know who they are. Maybe by, you know,” Jeongin looked back at the other male in the room with caution but the other male seemed to be lost in thought, still he leaned forward, “—by being her boyfriend they’ll leave her alone. She told me to buy her a bouquet of her favorites. She said that you’ll know.”

Yeji-noona nodded. “Red Rose, Azalea and Red Carnation.” She leans back to look at the other man, “Yah, Hwang Hyunjin! Prepare a Tussie Mussie Bouquet.”

Hwang-shi looked at Yeji-noona with a distracted gaze. “Why? Is someone going to get married?”

She rolled her eyes at her colleague’s question. “You dumbass. Tussie mussies feature the flower language quite strictly—”

“I know that—”

 “Shut up, I’m talking. It typically spoke of love but of friendship as well. Just prepare a Red Carnation, Red Rose, and Azalea bouquet, if possible add Iris and Lavender, oh and Angelicas.” She finished with a smile.

“Since you mentioned the flower language, with what you told me, does the bouquet say ‘Fascination to a passionate love towards a girl’ with Irises that meant ‘pure heart’, Lavenders with ‘devotion’ and Angelicas are with…?” Hyunjin-shi lets off, waiting for a respond from the fellow florist in the room.

“Inspiration.” Jeongin says confidently with a smile. The other man looked at him and smirked. ‘ _Eh, what did I do?_ ’

Yeji-noona broke the contact between her colleague and Jeongin “If you look at the time, it is half pass six already. I’ll leave you two boys alone to this bouquet okay? I have to prepare dinner upstairs. Jeongin-ah, just follow Hyunjin-yah okay? Also, clean up before closing, just leave the keys here.”

She turns back to proceed to the staff room but before disappearing into the room, she calls out to her partner. “Jinjin-yah. White Rosebuds are delicate.”

Jeongin was confused on what she meant. Did she tell Hyunjin-shi to place white roses in the bouquet? He looked at the other man in the room only to see him looking at him with an expressive glint in his eyes.

“I know.” He says, with his eyes still fixated to Jeongin. He turned back to Yeji-noona followed by confused Jeongin looking back and forth between the two Hwangs.

* * *

 

After leading the young boy to Yeji and getting shooed away by his bestfriend slash cousin after, it left Hyunjin to wait in agony. He was leaning on one of the sturdy shelves, thinking about this agony. Especially that the one the source of this is standing in the same room as you.

Truly, did the boy leave an impression to him. His visuals are both mundane and unique at the same time. Light fair skin is common but contrasted with dark but bright sharp eyes, even high cheebones, which reminds Hyunjin of a desert fox, even the dark hair that looked soft to the touch, the dance visual can claim that this kid is basically a guy who came out of a manhwa. He did find the boy appealing to the eye, that’s for sure but Hwang Hyunjin is known to turn down even the most attractive being in SOPA. With what happened outside a little bit earlier, Hyunjin can’t deny that he is soft for this kid. They just met but something kept on pulling his attention towards the smaller male. Curiosity maybe. Why is he soft towards soft, precious things.

“Yah.” a shout gets his attention. “Hwang Hyunjin! Prepare a Tussie Mussie Bouquet.”

He looked at Yeji with an annoyed preoccupied gaze and said the first thing in his mind when a Tussie Mussie is ordered. “Why? Is someone going to get married?”

He can see that she rolled her eyes. “You dumbass. Tussie mussies feature the flower language quite strictly—”

He cuts her off, “I know that—”

 “Shut up, I’m talking. It typically spoke of love but of friendship as well. Just prepare a Red Carnation, Red Rose, and Azalea bouquet, if possible add Iris and Lavender, oh and Angelicas.” Hyunjin, now attentive, looked at his partner in crime confusedly. He knows the first five but Angelicas? They just started growing those this October though.

“Since you mentioned the flower language, with what you told me, does the bouquet say ‘Fascination to a passionate love towards a girl’ with Irises that meant ‘pure heart’, Lavenders with ‘devotion’ and Angelicas are with…?” he lets off, basically asking ‘ _what is its meaning?_ ’

He can see Yeji’s mouth opening to say the answer but a different voice chirps in, “Inspiration.”

Hyunjin whips his head to look at the other man to see a brightly lit braced smile and eye crescents now framed with glasses. It was as if time had stopped for a few seconds, with him looking at the sun itself. A tickling feeling settles at his chest. Warmth slipping through as he basked in the brightness and beauty of the boy in his sights.

‘ _Oh sweet Yellow Chrysanthemum why_.’ That’s it. If Hwang Hyunjin was not passionate enough, he wouldn’t be a respected dance major. He stared at the other male and smirked. He’ll make sure to make the other to fall for his charms.

Yeji broke the contact between him and the bright kid, “If you look at the time, it is half pass six already. I’ll leave you two boys alone to this bouquet okay? I have to prepare dinner upstairs. Jeongin-ah, just follow Hyunjin-yah okay?” she looked at Hyunjin with a strict gaze, “Also, clean up before closing, just leave the keys here.”

She turns back but before she continues she called out to Hyunjin, “Jinjin-yah.” She looked straight at Hyunjin, a knowing glint present at her eyes, “White Rosebuds are delicate.”

He was looking at the younger, who looked at him after she turned her back on them. This was the fifth time they’d made eye contact and he’s getting more and more obsessed with it.

“I know.” He understood what she meant. A heart untouched by love is delicate. He now turned his back to Yeji hearing footsteps follow as he proceeds to the workshop.

* * *

 

“And what is your preferred lace?” Hyunjin- shi asks after minutes of silence. Jeongin looks at the nearly finished bouquet at the other male’s hands to the collection of streams beside the florist. Jeongin racked his mind on what his friend’s preferred colors are as his eyes scanned the variety of colored streams.

‘ _Red is a nice color’_ he heard her say once, ‘ _but another complementing dominant color is purple~_ ’

“Ah, umh… Ryujin likes the colors red and violet so I guess a red silk ribbon and a deep purple lace.” He hates how his voiced raised at the end, as if asking the other a question. He looks at the florist’s face to see a shocked expression.

“Ryujin? As in Shin Ryujin?” the other male asks, “Wait, why—” as if a meteor striked him, his faced reflected the sudden realization he might’ve felt, “Your girlfriend, oh, I forgot. You were to buy flowers for your girlfriend.”

Hyunjin-shi shook his head to focus back to his work. He wraps a pretty ribbon professionally at the bouquet in a record time. As he turns to hand Jeongin the finished bouquet, he suddenly pauses.

“ _Wait._ ” Jeongin looked at the other’s face to again see a wide-eyed expression. “Shin Ryujin is your girlfriend?!”

Jeongin can feel his whole body heating up from embarrassment. He had forgotten that he told the other male that he was here to buy flowers “ _for his girlfriend_ ”. He was about to say that he is just posing as one but the florist’s expression halted him. He can see a mix of _burning_ flames in the other’s eyes. He can’t tell what emotions those are but it gave a grave feeling.

“ _That’s_ _enough. Let’s just stop here hyung!_ ” his dialect is used once again, “Just, uhm, let’s just say that. Here’s the payment hyung. Bye.”

Jeongin took the bouquet and exchanged the payment for it. He turned so fast, nearly slipping on the varnished floor. Not to be mistrusting but Hyunjin-shi is a possible candidate to be one of the stalkers. _Every_ other stranger is, but the thought of being alone with one— and while posing as their person of interest’s lover, gave a dreadful feeling on Jeongin’s stomach. Like he told Ryujin earlier, he can’t fight.

“Jeongin-ah there’s a change!” he hears behind him. He shouts a simple ‘keep the change’ as he pulls his coat from the rack exits the shop.

Once meters away from the shop and he’s sure that the other didn’t follow him he took out his phone and sent a message.

 

To Ryunamja:

> _Code: Red, base A, complete_

* * *

 

“Ryujin? As in Shin Ryujin?” he asks confusedly, ‘ _I’ve never seen him in our department though. And Ryujin-ah never goes out of our department unless it’s lunch with friends._ ’

“Wait, why—” then he remembers, the kid was here to buy _for his girlfriend_ , “Your girlfriend, oh, I forgot. You were to buy flowers for your girlfriend.”

He shook his head. How can he forget that the younger was already in a relationship? He wraps the ribbon through a way that he had done countless of times.

‘ _Goddamit._ ’ He turns to hand Jeongin the finished bouquet, he looks at the other who was smiling excitedly, his dimples showing, eyes sparkling as he stares amazed at the bouquet. ‘ _How can our klutz of a maknae get such a precious being_?’ He suddenly pauses.

“ _Wait._ ” Jeongin looks at him. ‘ _Jeongin is Ryujin-ah’s boyfriend?_ ’ “Shin Ryujin is your girlfriend?!” his voice, again reached a falsetto tone.

Hyunjin doesn’t know why he feels _extremely_ betrayed, is it because the youngest of their department is dating and she didn’t tell her inner circle— them a.k.a. the people who she calls family a.k.a. Hwang Hyunjin and Hwang Yeji, about it or that Shin Ryujin is actually dating the guy he’d set his eyes on?

He hears a, “ _That’s_ _enough. Let’s just stop here hyung!_ Just, uhm, let’s just say that. Here’s the payment hyung. Bye.” before losing the other and the bouquet.

He can see Jeongin nearly slipping on the varnished floor on the corner turn near the exit. He looks at the payment at his hands and sees that the kid paid 10 more than necessary. ‘ _Aigoo, this kid. I am not playing chase with him._ ’

“Jeongin-ah there’s a change!” he shouts to the kid as he attempts to follow. He hears a simple ‘keep the change’ back. He had ran to at least try to catch up to the other but when his body meets the chilly night air as he takes a look at both directions and did not see any signs of the other, he sighs and returns inside.

He stands at the entry with an indecisive mind. He met a guy who, for goodness sake, appealed Hyunjin’s emotions, thawed Hyunjin’s iced heart, conquered Hyunjin’s mind— whatever people call that action, only to discover that his junior is dating him. How come he didn’t know this? How come Yeji—

‘ _Wait a minute._ ’ Hyunjin looks up at the ceiling, ‘ _The kid conversed with Yeji._ ' And Yeji had asked him to be careful with his heart.

He smirks, heart filled with triumph. He breathes in and readies himself. With his head voice, as if screaming to someone a kilometer away, he screams. “Hwang Yeji you better tell me shit!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't expect this to be this long to be honest, I was expecting this to be just a one shot but nay, it'll be a 3 or 5 chaptered story. The shifting of P.O.V confused me a bit but I managed. I just noticed that Hyunjin's POV is so descriptive while Jeongin isn't. Ooohhhhh, I didn't realize I made the eldest of the 00 line really whipped for the maknae here.
> 
> I tried to be as accurate as possible, with the Busan satoori for males being/sounding manly, the SOPA departments, even college itself, also, I know SOPA is a highschool but eh. Pardon mistakes I did. Also idk if anyone got the reference of the title of the story but it's a myth.


	2. Daisy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I give you stray kids, flowers and one sided love but it's not a Hanahaki Au. Please enjoy lol.

He sat up and opened his eyes. Through the mirror in front of his bed he can see a blur of his tussled hair, his cheeks and nose possibly featuring a tinge of red.

A strong breeze blew and he shivers. He looks at his windows direction; his tired eyes suddenly blinded by the bright light as the wind blew his curtains. He groans and gets out of bed with extreme difficulty. His head hurts, his eyes sting, his body feels heavy, it feels _so hot_ , but it is autumn season, and his nose, oh god, it feels stuffed.

Shaking his head, he picks his glasses up from his bedside table before looking at the digital clock beside its place. It reads 7:19. He’s got less than an hour to try to prepare and attend his first class this morning.

He stretches then groans as he hears a pop. He trudged towards the open window. Pulling apart the flapping curtains with slight difficulty, there at his window sill, sat a bouquet of red, pink and green plants wrapped in a red and purple ribbon… or lace. He rubs his eyes, his glasses sits crookedly at the tip of his nose after. He picks the bouquet up, examining it carefully as he tries to recall the events of yesterday with a hazy mind.

‘ _I remember leaving the campus when Ryujin texted me to go somewhere and bu—_ ‘ he jolts alert by the sudden scream behind him. He looks at the side at his door to see his dorm mate with a light bubble mask on his face, wearing a pastel pink sweater with a bear in front and his red and white striped pajama bottoms. His facial expression screams shock and betrayal.

“Jeongin-ah who gave you that?! Yah! Are you dating someone? Who?! Oh my god, Minho-hyung!! Felix-yah!! Jeonginnie he— Yah! Yang Jeongin you better—” He cuts off the other.

“Hyung! _Stop it_!” he whines, but before he can say another word, two of his other dorm mates burst in the room; one already ready to go and one still in an oversized clothing. Seungmin-hyung turns to look at the new people and pointed at Jeongin’s direction.

“Yah, Kim Seungmin what—“ Minho-hyung looks at Seungmin’s pointed finger and spots him, he ran towards Jeongin and held both of the younger’s cheeks, checking for injuries, even though none were inflicted. He feels his face smothered to a fabric and a strong smell of cologne hit his nose. He can feel his glasses flat on his face. The smell and action made his head spin. He groans.

“Kim Seungmin what did you do to our little Yang-yang?!” He can hear Minho-hyung say above him. He struggled to push away from the older.

“ _Uhm Minho-hyung._ Jeongin needs to breathe.” He hears a deep accented voice say in both English and Korean. He struggles more until he decided to do something bold. He placed his hands on his hyung’s sides and pinched. With a flinch and squeal from the older, he had loosened his hold, which leads to Jeongin’s freedom.

After getting free from the hold, he fixed his glasses and shouted, “ _Ma_! You hyungs! _Stop it_!” It hurts more. It’s making the room spin for Jeongin once again but he regains himself. The three other occupants stared at him wide eyed at the sudden outburst.

“Omo, wait a minute, Jeonginnie’s face is flushed,” Minho-hyung, again, held his face, “Are you sick? You’re burning! Did you leave your room window open? Why don’t you liste—“

“Hyung!” he whines for the nth time, “ _Stop here hyung!_ ” He tries to nudge away the intruding hands, but with no avail. So he turns to another aid, “Felix-hyung! Help me!”

With the younger’s plead, his Felix-hyung strolled to his boyfriend and pulls him by his shirt. “Hyunggie, _I think_ you’re troubling Jeonginnie. Let’s _calm down eh_.” He says, again, in a mix of both Korean and English.

“But Jeongi—“

“I’ll sleep in the living room then.”

Their hyung’s mouth shuts close with Felix-hyung’s declaration. The former looks back and forth between his lover and Jeongin with a silent look of objection but gives up sighing. He pities the older, but if he’s to choose on only having one person sick or two, he’d rather choose one like his hyung. Minho-hyung removes his hands from Jeongin’s face and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Jeongin finally felt relief—

“You hyungs, I was talking about the bouquet though.”

—nope, too early for that it seems. ‘ _Kim Seungmin, if only there is 101 ways to kill you without it being illegal. Actually there is._ ’ With Seungmin-hyung’s statement, he _tries_ to hide the flowers behind his back but the lovers saw his actions and held his shoulders. He dared to look at the two olders’ faces and saw them smiling. A chill ran up his spine.

“ _Baby_ , would you care to tell your dear hyunggies on who this bast—“ Felix-hyung punched the other lightly, “— I mean, this _beautiful person_ who gave you these flowers?”

Jeongin’s head spins, the room suddenly felt hotter than earlier. He looks elsewhere, avoiding eye contact with any of the other three occupants in the room as he tries to come up anything for an excuse.

What does he say? Does he come clean or lie? He can’t say he bought this for Ryujin though. Since they attend the same department _and_ are extremely close to each other, the hell of torturous teasing is the only end game for that. He can’t say Seungmin-hyung since he’s the one who alarmed them. Yeji-noona? Nope, never. They also know her.

He racked his brain, listing possible contenders and reasons on 0.1 millisecond per second until a name remains. Hwang Hyunjin. He can use the florist’s name. There is a _huge_ chance that they don’t know his name. He can pass as Yeji-noona’s relative because of their surnames. He can say that the guy was working at _The Secret Garden_ , which is not a lie, and he gave the flowers as a token to Jeongin for helping him or something, even though he feels uncomfortable to the guy since he’s a possible stalker of Ryujin-ah but to save his self, he'll trust the guy.

With a little flame of confidence bursting inside and ignoring the pain, he looks at his hyungs and said, “H-Hyunjin… nim. Hwang Hyunjin-shi. He, uhm, works at _The Secret Garden_.”

He was expecting them to heave a sigh and go ‘Oh really? Who? I’ve never heard of him’ and he can proceed to state the lie, with a tinge of truth, he created. But the extremely shocked looks on their faces say otherwise. Jeongin can feel his blood running to his head, the dizziness and heat, the pain as a whole is more prominent than before.

“Hyunjin. As in Hwang Hyunjin, _Yeji’s partner in crime_ , our dance team visual, the most pinned _pretty boy_ , the ice prince of our University, gave you this bouquet? _Holy hell, I did not live to this day just to see Jinnie-yah pinning on our baby_. Wait, _oh my god_ , my heart,  _oh_ , _my god_.” Felix-hyung finishes while fanning himself with both of his hands.

Jeongin looks back and forth between his fanning hyung and Minho-hyung, who appears to have turned to stone. One phrase kept ringing in his head, ‘ _Of our University_ ’. He can feel his head as if it’s about to explode, he can feel the room spinning, his body getting heavier and _hotter_ , his visions blurring from the tears caused by the sting he feels on his eyes, the pain everywhere increasing _so much_. He can hear muffled voices; as if he’s listening underwater, as he sees the Australian looking at his lover telling something to him before everything turns black.

* * *

 

A sneeze broke his trance. ‘ _Someone just had a thought of me._ ’ He blinks and looks himself in the mirror. As he regains his breathing, he stares at his reflection. Sweat is making his hair stuck to his well sculpted face, his sleeveless shirt adored his lean body, and his right pant leg is rolled up to the top of his calf while the opposite had fallen. He trails his eyes back up at his face. He walked closer to the mirror, examining his face closely. Strong eyebrows, charismatic eyes, thick lips.

How can someone not know who he is? Both his visual and his talent is at par with most idols, hell, he's even got his own fanclub. The only person who doesn't appreciate his visuals and talent is the Devil—

"You might fall at your reflection, dear Narcissus, and it will kill you."

—and speak of the devil, she's here. He sighs and looks at the other. She's leaning at the door frame, her long hair framing her smug face. Dark clothes adorned her lean feminine frame. Her face could be akin to a queen, all regal and beauty. She is his equal, more of rival, when it comes to dancing, but she’s basically his other half. She’s the only person who he _truly adores_ — hint the sarcasm there, Hwang Yeji.

“Dearest, I know you're jealous—"

“Dearest, I know you're jealous—" she repeats mockingly.

“—but you know I am _extremely_ adored—”

“—but you know I am extremely adored—” she again repeats mockingly, now with stupid actions.

"Okay, shut up, you'll end up becoming my echo—" She fakes a gasp, "Hwang-shi, I will never fall in love with you."

He glares at his bestfriend, he shouldn't have given her _The Lightning Thief_. She wouldn't have been obsessed with the _Percy Jackson_ series and mythology as a whole.

"Jinnie-yah, with all seriousness, I swear if you give me another Greek mythology reference I am so done with you."

She looks at him, a smug look still present even as she shrugged her shoulders, "Can't promise anything Hyunjin-ah."

He rolled his eyes at her statement. He backs up from the mirror and proceeds to his phone to pick music once again. He can hear shuffling behind him as he searches.

"Why are you here this early anyway? Don't you have a class to attend to?" He hears her ask somewhere beside him.

"I have a class at 9, it's half past 7," he looks at her direction, her back facing him as she's tying up her hair in a bun, "What about you? Why are you here?"

She twirls around, looking at him with pressed lips, clamping a hair band, “Pruee pheriod.”

He says an ‘oh’ and continues with his song searching. At his peripheral vision, he can see her moving somewhere else to possibly warm up. Other than the sound of floors squeaking when Yeji’s shoes slip or occasional grunting and joints popping— which Hyunjin stifled a laugh at, from his bestfriend, a comforting silence settled between them.

After a few seconds, he can feel his nose itch. He’s goddamn sure that a sneeze is coming. He quickly covers his nose, staying like that for a few seconds until the itch subsides. As he removes his hands, he suddenly sneezes loud, echoing through the whole room. ‘ _Whoever’s talking about me praised me too much.’_

“May God bless you from certain death.” He hears Yeji say after a snicker.

He glares at her, “Now even superstition? Jinnie-yah, are you that bored?” She just shrugged at his question. He rolls his eyes at her and returns to his music surfing.

“By the way Jinjin-yah, Minho and Felix had asked if we and Ryu-ah is free later at lunch. Are you?” she asks. He replied with a simple ‘yeah’.

A notification ring suddenly alerted both dancers. The sound came from Yeji’s black backpack. They looked at each other, quarreling through stares. ‘ _Your phone, your duty_.’ ‘ _You’re closer, just reach it_.’

Hyunjin just gave up and reached over to the other’s bag. He rummaged blindly, trying to find the phone that just rang. With little ease, he finally found the item and took it out. He saw it’s a message from Felix. He reads the message out loud.

“’ _Yeji-yah. Sorry_ ,’” he chuckles, “Felix placed ‘dae’ instead of ‘da’, anyway, ‘ _Can you take notes for me this morning??? My little baby is sick!_ _ㅠㅠㅠ_ _we’ll see you in lunch though. Thank you in_ —“ Hyunjin looked confused at the foreigner’s typo, “He might’ve meant ‘ _advance_ ’ but he placed ‘yeon’ on the first syllable.”

“His ‘baby’ is sick eh?” Hyunjin breathe out a laugh, “Wow, I never thought Minho-hyung got sick easily in mid-autumn weather.”

“Not really. It’s not hi—” Was the only reply he got before a thud resonated through the studio followed by a grunting ‘ow’. Speaking of getting sick, his thought drifted off towards a certain encounter last night. An encounter with a pale skinned student with eyes that reflect the night sky above, framed by black cat eye glasses and his cheeks and ears tinted with red from the cold wispy air, waiting out in the cold. ‘ _How is he doing anyway… He stayed out so long in the cold._ ’ He looks at his bestfriend and sees her getting up from a lying position.

“Jinnie-yah,”

She groans, “Yeah?”

“You know what I’ll ask so shoot.” He placed the phone down and sat. He leans at the wall, watching his bestfriend struggle to a sitting position with her legs stretched.

“Uh, fine, wait… Okay. So what more information do you need clarification about our Ryu-ah’s, quote on quote, boyfriend?”

Hyunjin thoroughly thought of a question to ask the other. He knows basic information like Jeongin’s full name, birthday, which department he’s in, some likes and dislikes— like low he can’t eat black beans because it feels disgusting, and where he stays at, not trying to appear like a stalker on the last part though. Talking about stalkers, he also knew of the Code: Red plan Ryujin had set up with Jeongin and Yeji, which the latter briefed him about. Ryujin still haven’t uttered a single word to him about the matter and he’ll _totally_ confront her about this mess later. On the other hand, Ryujin’s ‘boyfriend’ is on Hyunjin’s radar. He’ll find valuable information to attempt to get close to and, if possible, court the sweet red tulip. Like he believes, he will not be a dance major if he was not passionate enough.

* * *

 

He slowly opened his heavy eyelids, his eyeballs wanted to roll back and force him to rest but he fought to stay awake. The heaviness on his chest and hardship on breathing is still present, even the heat is overwhelming. He turns to his side to find a blur of his glasses’ frame beside his pillow. He picks it up and wears it only to see the lovers sitting on the chairs beside his bed, busily practicing Korean to notice Jeongin was awake. Minho-hyung is holding a Korean Alphabet book for children while Felix-hyung, with arms crossed, looked angry beside him.

“Ka—”

“Ka.”

“Na—”

“Na.”

“T—”

“Ta.”

“R—”

“Ma.”

Minho-hyung heaves a sigh as he closed the book, placing it down beside him, “That is why you don’t try to get ahead of me babe.”

He can see Felix-hyung rolling his eyes as he uncrossed his arms and glares at his lover, “You said you won’t leave until we finish my Korean studies so I’m doing this. You have an audition in… _like, 5 minutes or less._ ” He held his lover’s face with both of his hands, his expression softening, “Hyunggie, _I know you’d sacrifice everything for me_ … like those things you did in the past just to be with me, but… _I don’t want to be the reason…_ on why you’ll fail on your dream.”

He can see Minho-hyung holding Felix-hyung’s hands on his cheeks, eyes full of love and adoration that never changed since they met, said Felix-hyung. He never really knew their full story but Chan-hyung said it was a really sad one.

He knew that they met at Hongdae, with Felix-hyung being a runaway. Jeongin didn’t know from where. He was an orphan taken in by Minho-hyung’s relatives. Felix-hyung was introduced by the elder’s cousin and Felix-hyung’s adoptive older brother as Lee Felix not Lee Yongbok since his Korean name was said to remind him painful memories from his so called old home, the place Jeongin doesn’t know about. Minho-hyung pitied the younger. He stayed by his side and soon they’ve been together through rough times. It was probably years ago, when Minho-hyung stopped school for a year because of financial crisis, it was also the year they got together.

To actually see both of them now well and happy made Jeongin’s heart ache with happiness. The hyungs are practically inseparable. They have nearly the same hobbies, likes and dislikes, like they’re two halves of a soul that finally found each other. Jeongin let a tinge of bitterness be felt. Their relationship is something plenty of people wanted to have, and Jeongin won’t deny that he’s one of them.

He sees Felix-hyung then lean in towards Minho-hyung— whose hands are now on the other’s waist, which Jeongin took as his cue to alert them that he’s awake. He covered his eyes, leaving a tiny gap to peek, and said, “ _Ma!_ You hyungs! Get your PDA out of my room.”

The younger of the two lovers was startled and looked at Jeongin, his expression then changed into a teasing look, “Hey hey hey, you see us kiss every day, Jeonginnie. Stop with your acts~”

Minho-hyung rolled his eyes at his lover’s antics. He looks at Jeongin and sent a smile and a nod before kissing Felix-hyung at the cheek, “Like you said, I’ll be late to something important, so see you guys at lunch later.”

“Oh that reminded me to text Yeji-ah.” Felix-hyung quickly stood up and ran outside the room leaving him and Minho-hyung who was about to protest but the latter sighed. Felix-hyung was already out of the room. He stood up and walked towards Jeongin. He placed his hands atop of Jeongin’s forehead and tsked.

“Jeonginnie, you should’ve listened to us. You’re really burning up!” The elder sighed, he looks at Jeongin with soft authoritative eyes, he sighs and said, “Please listen to your hyung baby. You scared us when you fainted and you’re super feverish. Luckily Seungmin still had his medication from his flu months ago.”

Jeongin can’t really say that he didn’t feel guilty suddenly becoming a burden, but last night he was extremely tired and decided to just change then sleep without closing his window, “Sorry hyung…”

“The bouquet is at the living room, in a watered vase okay? Also, I need explanation about the bouquet later.” Jeongin forgot about that, “Oh wait I’ll be meeting Jinnie-ah at lunch with Yeji and Ryujinnie. I’ll just confront him.” Minho gives a smile that sends a chill down Jeongin’s smile.

His hyung was about to walk away and Jeongin panicked. He shot up to grab his hyung’s wrist. The dizziness that came over made the whole room spin in 360. He falls back again with a groan, still he tightened his hold on the elder. The older rushed back to him in panic, gushing questions, ‘Are you in pain?’ and ‘Is there a problem?’.

He waited for the lightheadedness to subdue before speaking, “I’ll tell you about it later hyung. Please… don’t ask him okay…” just to be sure that the elder can’t deny, he looked pleadingly with a matching pout at the elder.

Minho-hyung was _literally_ soft towards him so he quickly agrees. The elder patted his head gently as he said his goodbye. He stood up and turned towards the door to see his lover waiting for him. He approached the other with a smile, his hands landing on the younger’s waist, pulling the other close before leaning in for a short soft kiss.

“Felix, take care okay… Seungmin will be here before lunch. Also you should tell Jeongin's parents about him getting flu. They might worry though, so tell them we'll take care of him.” With a last farewell, the elder left accompanied by Felix-hyung to the front door. When Jeongin heard the front door close, he wishes to fall asleep right then, especially when the frantic padding of steps can be heard running towards his room. He sees Felix-hyung slide pass his door. The older retracts and peeks in his room with an impish toothy smile, “Jeonginnnie, you know what to do.”

And he sighs, sitting up as he fixes his glasses, leaning himself against the headboard. What’s the point on _trying_ to keep a secret to his troubling, determined hyung now?

* * *

 

He stretches as the sun’s heat hits his face— it is the least the sun can provide at noon on a cold mid-autumn day. After a talk with Yeji about the flower he finds pretty and how to scare Ryujin or give her a mini-heart attack, whichever of the two options, took more or less half an hour or so, they decided to dance a song or two before Yeji proceeded with her second class and Hyunjin with his first class for the day. Now that it’s 11:56, he walked outside of their department building ready to go to their get-together place, at the main campus gate.

He walked through his university campus in a relaxed manner. He passes by the basketball court where fellow second years from the theatrical and music department are having a friendly game of basketball and some group of people cheering for their chosen team. He was about to keep on but he sees a familiar face among the screaming crowd of people that made him stop his tracks.

Shin Ryujin is at the court bleachers watching people from the departments play basketball. Shin Ryujin was never interested in sports so this is new. ‘ _What could this kid—_ ‘

A guy suddenly shot a half court three pointer in the hoop. Hyunjin whistled, amazed. Hyunjin can see the said guy looked at the direction of the screaming girls in front of Ryujin in the bleachers and winked while flashing a flirtatious smile. The girls then sounded like dolphins, which affected Hyunjin greatly, who is meters away compared to the poor bystanders and Ryujin who were nearer.

But as Hyunjin looks at their department’s youngest he can see her sending a simple smile to the guy and he turns back to their game after. When the guy turns, Ryujin propped her head on her hands as she continued to watch the game in an uninterested manner.

_Oh._

The dude’s flirting with Ryujin-ah and she is not into to him. Hyunjin sat down on the benches near him, with the court still visible. He stays to see what Ryujin-ah would do without help from her ‘boyfriend’. ‘ _Where is the kid anyway? According to Yeji, doesn’t he meet her at lunch too?_ ’

Soon the game ends, Hyunjin glances down at his watch to see 12:23, Minho and Felix are probably waiting at the gate already. Hyunjin stood up, ready to get Ryujin for their group lunch. He stops when he sees the flaunting bro approached Ryujin at the bleachers.

Having the older brother protectiveness towards their inner circle’s youngest member, he got close to where the guy and Ryujin, who is fidgety and is trying to look elsewhere, as the guy tries to interact _too closely_ to her. He glares at the back of the guy’s head, both him and Ryujin still not aware of the approaching presence.

“— it’s not that, Midam-oppa. It’s just that my boyfriend—“the guy, Midam, cuts off Ryujin.

“Ryujin-ah, I’m just asking if you are free. I haven’t suggested that we should go and eat.” He sends a handsome smile, “Are you expecting me to?”

Ryujin looks down, face flushed from getting flustered, “N-no— it’s just— typically— um—“

The Midam guy laughs then plasters a wolfish smirk, which made him look all fancy _and_ annoying. Hyunjin glares harder as he sees the guy grab Ryujin’s wrist when she placed a fallen lock behind her ear, it left the young girl a flustered stuttering mess.

_Oh hell no._

Big bro Hwang steps in between, clearing his throat as he looks indifferently at the other guy. Midam was taken aback a bit and staggered backwards. Hyunjin sends a smile with a glare as he speaks, “Sorry but Ryujin-ah’s boyfriend has been searching for her.”

Midam blinks _quite idiotically_ before looking back and forth between a hiding Ryujin behind a dreadful handsome being named Hwang Hyunjin before awkwardly replying, “Ah, is that so… hyung…?” The last part being unsure, “Ryujin-ah, text me if you’re free okay?” The Midam dude looks distastefully— _the nerve_ , at Hyunjin one last time before turning to take his leave.

Midam was already far away when he can hear someone sigh the breath she’s been holding behind him.

“Oppa, thank you.” He hears a shuffling noise behind. He turns to see Ryujin smiling apologetically at him. He looks at her with stern eyes, playing in character as he and Yeji planned, before uttering out something he practiced in his mind already, “Boyfriend eh, Ryujin-ah? Where’s that bastard?”

“Oppa!” Ryujin covers her face, which is probably red, when she realized Hyunjin _probably_ heard her say that to Midam, “Wha— I don’t have a boyfriend okay!”

She lowers her hands and peeks at Hyunjin’s face, which still plasters the stern look. Hyunjin tried to make his face look madder and he can hear her swallow.

“I’m sure you heard it wrong, oppa, it’s my _boy friend_ not my boyfriend.” She looks elsewhere except for Hyunjin’s eyes. ‘ _Kid’s literally a bad liar._ ’

Hyunjin just laughs at her futile attempt to lie, already getting off his Protective Big Brother character. He leans back, wiping a tear from his eyes, as he looks at a confused Ryujin.

“Don’t worry, Ryu-ah. I know Code: Red.” He tells her. Ryujin heaves a breath of relief, “You suck at lying by the way.”

“Oppa!” Ryujin lightly punches him, “Why would you play me like that!”

Hyunjin just shrugged and said, “I am in your inner circle but you didn’t brief me about Code: Red.”

Ryujin faked offended, “It’s because you didn’t listen you big dumbo! I told you about it last week!”

‘ _Last week? This kid. I was busy last week._ ’

“Hey, you’re the idiot. You do know I was _busy_ last week right?” He raised his eyebrows at her.

“I know. Now don’t blame me about not telling you.” She glares at him, “Why are you interested all of a sudden?”

Hyunjin holds a finger up, “I work at Yeji’s family’s flower shop remember.”

For a second Ryujin didn’t process what Hyunjin was implying but then her mouth forms into an ‘o’, “Jeonginnie why?!” she squeals.

Hyunjin again shrugged, now he crossed his arms and looks at her, “Want to tell me on who Yang Jeongin is?”, he asks, even if he already knows who, he just wanted to confirm _something_.

Ryujin sighs for the nth time, “Jeonginnie is a fellow first year, he’s in the music department, we met through Chan-oppa, and we’ve been friends since highschool. He a precious kid. He’s like,” she ponders while doing actions with her hands,” my son slash bestfriend.”

Hyunjin sharpens his gaze, “They why didn’t you tell us— your other bestfriends, about him?”

_Okay, he’s not gonna deny, he’s salty._

Ryujin looks confused at him once again, “What do you mean? Oh, well I didn’t tell you about him since you never really saw him and asked, Yeji-unnie knows Jeongin because she did. Plus, Felix and Minho-op—“

“Ryujinnie!” a loud scream behind Hyunjin thundered, both startling them, Hyunjin turns and Ryujin glances and they see the two other dance team members. Felix was running towards them with a bright smile and open arms. Minho was walking in a relaxed manner behind his lithe dancer of a boyfriend.

“Ryujinnie my little baby!” Felix hugged the girl beside Hyunjin, he looks and sends a toothy smile at Hyunjin after. “Hyunjin hello.”

Minho finally reached their group. He kisses Felix’s cheek and whispered something to his lover’s ear which made the younger laugh. He send a smile to Ryujin but when his eyes landed on Hyunjin, who was smiling towards him, Minho was glaring and that made the smile fall from Hyunjin’s lips. ‘ _What did I do?_ ’

As Hyunjin was about to ask, Felix quickly interludes by placing his hands on his lover’s arm, “ _Baby relax._ You promised him remember?”

Minho was about to protest but, like always, he just sighs and gives up on doing so. He never had power on telling Felix opposition or something similar for the younger is as stubborn as a mule.

“Sorry our youngest was sick today.” Hyunjin can hear Ryujin gasp beside him, “Ryujinnie, he would like to see you later though.”

Hyunjin is confused.

‘ _Wasn’t Minho sick? Felix said ‘my baby’. And he only calls_ two _people baby, Ryujin and Minho. Hyung was the only person who lives with him between the two._ ’

He looks between the lovers who are conversing with the younger dancer. Hyunjin opens his mouth, about to ask who but a sudden force behind him made him nearly fall forward.

“And then bang, Hwang Hyunjin is dead.” He hears Yeji’s voice behind him as he straightens himself.

“Hwang Yeji you little—“

“Languge!” Felix shouted. Hyunjin glares at the acrobat and shuts his mouth, before drifting his gaze to his bestfriend, who is behind him, and mouths an ‘I’ll fucking kill you’.

She mouths a ‘Try me bitch.’ back.

“Anyway! I’m hungry we should eat.” Yeji breaks their own fight, “Ryu-ah let’s go!”

The older female ran and pulled Ryujin by her wrist, the younger voiced a complaint but was left unheard.

“The last one to reach the University café pays!”

* * *

 

Jeongin wakes up for the third time this day. This time there is no pain, no pounding headache and less heat. He looks at his bedside table to see a blur of his black glasses. He reaches for the thing as he sits up, groaning from the tiredness he feels. The light seeping through his open window blinded him once again.

He fell asleep after talking with Felix-hyung about the bouquet and how it is important to the plan Ryujin and he thought of and the Autralian is actually aware of the arrangement. In exchange, Jeongin asked about the male florist, who is actually a friend of theirs and is like a brother to Ryujin so he’s off the list. After that they just chatted about random things when he dozed off. The older probably removed his glasses for him.

He was about to get off the bed but he stops at the sight of his hyung with a sweet face was sitting on the chair Felix-hyung was seated on earlier. Seungmin-hyung is holding a book, already past halfway through, busily reading to notice that Jeongin was awake.

“Hyung—” his voice came out as a hoarse whisper; he clears his throat, “Hyung.”

Seungmin looks up from his book, smiling when his eyes landed on Jeongin’s. He sets his book down before standing up to sit beside Jeongin at his bed. He places his hand on younger’s cheek. Jeongin leaned to touch. His hyung’s hand is cold, kinda comforting for the sick younger. Still, it worried Jeongin, the sweet hyung stayed in his cold room just to watch over him as he rested. He placed both of his hands on the hand on his cheek, warming it up using the risen heat of his body.

“Hyung, you’re cold.” Jeongin took the elder’s hand away from his cheeks, “How long have you been staying beside me without neither a blanket nor a jacket?” Jeongin pouts, looking up at his sweetly smiling hyung. Seungmin-hyung’s eyes soften more, if that’s even possible.

The older have always been a selfless human being. He’ll do _everything_ for you to not even lift a single finger if you’re incapable of doing work. He’ll never, _like ever_ , leave your side if he knows you are frail or sick. Those are parts of the reasons why Jeongin liked his hyung. Through his teenage years, he was there to support the younger. He had always been there since he was a baby. He never left Jeongin’s side like he promised to Jeongin’s mom.

“Jeongin-ah,” he coos, “Don’t worry about me. How are you feeling anyway?”

Seungmin-hyung pulled his hands back, out of Jeongin’s clutch. Jeongin whines at the lost. Seungmin-hyung just laughed at the younger’s clingy nature. Jeongin noticed how the other's eyes crinkle as he laughs or how his hyung's chubby cheeks moved with the sweet laughter. The older stood up and ruffled the younger’s already messy hair.

“We should go and eat lunch now yeah?”

Jeongin again pouts and crosses his arm, the older rolled his eyes and pinched the younger’s cheek.

“I’m not going to baby you like Felix-hyung, Jeonginnie, so stand up.” Seungmin-hyung tapped his feet, posing in a motherly way.

Jeongin won’t give up. He raised both his arms up, acting like a baby asking to be lifted up. The older again rolled his eyes but rather than forcing the younger to stand up, he leaned down and picks Jeongin up bridal style. Jeongin _squeaked_ and clung to the elder’s neck for support. He can feel his glasses slipping so he fixed them. The older laughed at the younger’s reaction and held him closely. Jeongin can feel his face heating up. He hid his face at the crook of the other’s neck. His hyung let out a sweet laugh that rang like music to his ears.

“Why? Are you embarrassed Jeonginnie? You asked me to carry you.” Seungmin-hyung rang another sweet laughter, “So princess, shall we eat first before you get your beauty sleep yeah?”

Jeongin never felt so embarrassed in his whole life. Actually he had been.

* * *

 After getting lunch, they separated for their afternoon classes. They all agreed to meet at a café in front of the Hwang’s _The Secret Garden_ before going to the dorm to visit someone, who Hyunjin forgot to ask who, as planned.

Hyunjin has been sitting down, bored at the counter since he got there at 3. It was an early dismissal since Yeji and his’ last class professor had to go because of an emergency, now both of them are working in the shop waiting for the others to show up.

He looks at the passers-by through the store window as he leans down on his crossed arms. Some are marveling at the flowers, some are talking as they pass by, and some are just plainly passing by. He sighs, remembering one particular person who stood by the store window thrice. He hasn’t seen the kid since last night. ‘ _Where could the kid be?_ ’ He never formally met Jeongin, but he actually want to see him again, even if just from a far or for today… atleast.

A smack at the back of his head roused him from his thoughts. He held the back of his head, holding in a curse that is about to spill from his mouth.

“I’ve been calling your name and you just ignore me? Anyways, there’s an old lady that needed assist on the Garden aisle. I have to deal with a bouquet.” Yeji patted his back, “If only you weren’t my bestfriend, I would’ve fired you for being lazy.”

“I still don’t get how I’m still friends with you.” He says through gritted teeth, “I could sue you with abuse already, with all the strikes you did to me.”

He looks behind him to see her roll her eyes, “Stop being dramatic Jinjin-yah. Now shoo and help the old lady.”

Hyunjin stood up, grumbling a complain as he exited the counter to proceed to the Garden aisle. When he reached the corner, he sees an old lady skimming through the seasonal flower seed rack.

"Madam what is the problem?" He plasters a sweet smile towards the old lady after bowing respectfully. The old lady didn't have much of a problem, she was searching for blue Lilacs seeds, which was at the general flower rack, which is places at the opposite side. He gives her the seeds she was searching for and leads her towards the counter when a voice stopped them, "Mother!"

Hyunjin looked at direction the voice came from and nearly stumbled back from shock. A beautiful lady who looked _really_ familiar was walking towards them, concern apparent on her face.

Pale skin, dark fox like eyes and high cheekbones that looked too familiar all together for it to just be coincidental. The only difference was the lady’s nose and petite frame. The lady was wearing a casual clothing that consists of a stripped shirt, blazer and jeans.

‘ _I did not ask for this oh my god._ ’

"Mother, please don't suddenly leave the van like that," the lady placed her hands at the old lady's shoulder, "We're here to get fresh flowers, not seeds Mom. To send your grandson his favorite. Plus you are also sick so you should’ve not left the van, Mother.”

“Inhee-ah, I’ll just buy his favorite for our garden. Relax my child.” Grandmother tells to the lady. Grandmother suddenly coughs; Hyunjin was at the old lady’s side, rubbing circles at her back, along with the grandma’s daughter. Inhee-ajuma turns to Hyunjin and smiles, her eyes turning into crescents, the wrinkle on her eyes became apparent, “Darling, not trying to be a bother but do you guys have a delivery service?”

Hyunjin nods as he composed himself, “Ah yes, please, let’s go to the counter.”

Hyunjin enters the counter once again, now getting a pen and paper below it, “Is the delivered flowers a bouquet, a vase or a basket?”

“Oh, I would like a basket of daisies.”

Hyunjin scribbles down the order, "And where would you have it deliv-"

"Inhee-ajuma?" Hyunjin hears a voice behind him ask.

' _I swear to god why do people always cut me off._ ' Hyunjin turns to see a surprised Yeji, holding a bouquet of roses in her arms. She bows towards the two elders in the room.

"Yeji-yah? Ah hello darling." Inhee-ajuma smiles again, "It's nice seeing you again."

"Ah-, um, yes ajuma." Yeji placed down the bouquet on the counter, “What are you doing here, ajuma?”

“Ah,” Inhee-ajuma tinkles a laugh, “My little boy is sick. You know how much he loves flowers. Since we can’t visit him because mother is also sick, I just want to send these flowers as regards.”

Yeji smiles, he eye smile showing, “Ah, of course. Hyunjinnie shall help you with that.”

Hyunjin rolled his eyes, “I was but you suddenly came up, anyway, madam where would you have it delivered?”

Inhee-ajuma opens her mouth but a ring from the door and an obnoxiously loud voice hollered his and Yeji’s name got their attention. Felix with a huge smile on his face is with his boyfriend and Ryujin walking towards them. The three stopped for a moment, looking at Inhee-ajuma, shocked. Then they ran towards the said lady, hugging her.

“Ajuma! It’s nice to see you!” Ryujin exclaims, “It’s been so long. Also did you know he’s sick?”

“Hello to you too Ryu-ah and yes I do.” She shifted her gaze to the lovers, “And Minho-yah, Felix-yah, thank you for taking care of him when I can’t be beside him.”

The lovers returned a smile to the lady, she turns towards Hyunjin and said, “The flowers would be delivered to these boys’ dormitory.”

Hyunjin nods and noted down the address. Inhee-ajuma with her mother paid and left after bidding them farewell.

“Inhee-ajuma really spoils our baby.” Felix flashes a toothy smile.

Hyunjin looks confused at the young Australian, he want's to ask but he excuses himself to do the order. Hyunjin finishes the basket with ribbons on the handle and gave it to Felix and Minho who was about to go home with Ryujin.

“Ah, Yeji-yah, Jinne-yan, I know we planned on going to the dorm but you guys are busy so... would you guys still come?” Felix asks Yeji and Hyunjin. Minho contradicts with a ‘They might get sick’ but Felix pursues. Hyunjin looks at Yeji and nodded at him.

“Hyunjin, you go,” she smiles rather _ominously_ ; “I’ll go handle the shop.”

Hyunjin considered saying no but looking at Yeji, that is not an answer to say. He sighs, removing his garden apron. “Fine, but let me change.”

“ _Okay_!” the Aussie shouts.

* * *

 

Jeongin woke up again, this time because of a slamming the door and Felix-hyung screaming ‘We’re back!’ He sees a blur, possibly Seungmin-hyung, rushing out of his room to possibly shut the noisy hyung up. Jeongin sat up, his head still groggy from sleep and heat still present on his body. He picks his glasses just in time to see people on his doorway. In front stood Ryujin who ran to him and hugged him.

“ _Ma_! Ryujinnie stop! You might get sick.” He tells her. A smack on his shoulder came from the girl in his arms. She pulls back, her eyes glossy.

“You stupid kid! How can you sleep with windows open!” she scolded him.

“Ryu-ah, you’ll just tire yourself out,” Minho-hyung intervenes, “We already scolded him and I’m sure he already learned.”

“By the way, a delivery is here for you.” Minho-hyung said. Jeongin looks at the older’s face but he’s facing the doorway. He turns his attention to the entrance and he can feel his heat rising to his cheeks. At the doorway stood the handsome male florist, holding a basket of daisies, shock apparent on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guide: 'Ma' is a wild version of 'Yah'-Hey
> 
> I lied about me posting on Sat, Sun or Monday lol. Not really, it was just delayed since school works came up. But the next update probably 2 or 3 weeks or a month from now or more since exams exists.
> 
> Though no one is going to stop me from these rare ships. I favor ChanLix (Aussie line), MinSung and HyunIn but MinLix and ChangSung will sail and be appreciated. Even if MinSung and ChangLix prevails on the list.
> 
> ALSO FIGHT ME CAUSE HYUNIN IS PRETTY MUCH REAL, ESPECIALLY ON THEIR RECENT VLIVES. LIKE BOI.
> 
> This might be the longest chapter in this story though. Since 6 important people were introduced.
> 
> Also, changes will occur since I didn't check it. I'll add details and such.

**Author's Note:**

> CH 1: White Rosebud = Heart untouched by love  
> CH 2: Daisy = Get well soon  
> CH 3: Basil = ?  
> CH 4: Skeleton Flower = ?  
> CH 5: Lilacs = ?
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/sinnamwun)


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